Title- A Witch in Time!

Issue - 41

Writer- Bill Mantlo

Art- Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito

 

Summary:

The Scarlet Witch is drawn to Doom's castle where she is captured by a time-displaced witch hunter from the Salem Witch Hunt. Before being possessed by the witch-hunter's power, she manages to send a magical flare for help. Spider-Man is the first hero to catch the flare and is instantly drawn to the castle. Spider-Man meets Cotton Mathers, the witch-hunter, and engages in battle with him. Mathers uses Scarlet Witch against him and eventually buries him under a pile of rubble. Mather's then uses Doom's time platform to return to the year 1692. After he recovers, Spider-Man follows Mathers who is ready to burn the Scarlet Witch at the stake. The Vision suddenly appears and throws Mathers into the mob. Together they free the Scarlet Witch, but are surrounded by a lynch hungry crowd.

 
 

Notes:

  • No Doom appearance, however the issue is set in one of Doom's abandoned castles, presumably the one in the Adirondack Mountains, the issue describes her Hex flare heading "west toward distant New York."

  • Collected in Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 2 (see below)

 

Title- Visions of Hate

Issue - 42

Writer- Bill Mantlo

Art- Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito

 

Summary:

The three heroes, Spider-Man, Vision, and Scarlet Witch, are left with little choice but to battle the angry mob which perceives them as demons. However their numbers eventually over power them and Vision is wounded by Mathers while a villagers shots the Scarlet Witch. Spider-Man awakens inside of a prison cell filled with other villagers. There he meets John Proctor who recounts the recent events in Salem which have led to the witch hunts. Fully recovered, Spider-Man breaks free of his bonds and also frees the Vision. Leaving the Scarlet Witch in the hands of the imprisoned villagers, the two journey in search of Cotton Mathers. When they find him, he is communicating with a being called the Dark Rider. They are quickly discovered and the Dark Rider attempts to kill them with his giant pet raven. After defeating the animal, the Dark Rider senses their power is not of their time. Suddenly Doctor Doom appears and warns the heroes not to reveal anything more regarding their future origins.

 
 

Notes:

  • Last page appearance only.

  • The Scarlet Witch specifically states that the castle she visited was in Latveria. Although the previous issue did not say otherwise, the fact that it was abandoned and the presence of a time platform does point toward the castle being the one in the Adirondack Mountains. Doom was not dead or missing at the time of this issue being published, leaving the question open as to why would Castle Doom (or any other castle in Latveria) be abandoned? Also, was it really so easy for an Avenger to waltz into Latveria?

  • Collected in Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 2 (see below)

 

Title- A Past Gone Mad!

Issue - 43

Writer- Bill Mantlo

Art- Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito

 

Summary:

Doom joins Spider-Man and Vision as they face the Dark Rider. He reveals that he was drawn to this time by an incredible power source. The Rider unleashes his giant cat against the heroes while he converses with Doom. He explains that Doom has an inherent supernatural power because of his mother. He has drawn Doom to Salem in order to siphon off that power for himself. Doom begins to attack the Rider, but to no effect. With the help of the Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man and Vision defeat the giant cat and join Doom's battle. Their combined forces are unable to defeat the Rider who uses their own powers against them. Only the Scarlet Witch's power briefly binds him, but a blast from Doom's own armor sets him free again instead of felling him. The Rider fires a massive burst of energy knocking out Doom as well as all of the heroes.

 
 

Notes:

  • Doom's origin is recapped, see also Fantastic Four #5, Books of Doom

  • Collected in Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 2 (see below)

 

Title- Death in the Year Before Yesterday!

Issue - 44

Writer- Bill Mantlo

Art- Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito

 

Summary:

Moondragon, of the Avengers, is also drawn into the past by the Scarlet Witch's hex. When she arrives, she finds Doom and her fellow heroes captive. By attacking the Rider on her own, she manages to distract him long enough for the Spider-Man and the other to recover. But with Doom held captive in a bubble, which is slowly siphoning his power to the Rider, the Vision and Spider-Man focus on freeing him. Eventually the two break Doom free of the bubble, and all of them join their powers to strike the Rider at once. Their combined might not only defeats the Dark Rider, but disintegrates him. With the battle over, Doom using the time circuitry in his armor he returns to his own time. Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Moondragon use the time platform to return as well. Before using the time platform, Spider-Man return to Salem to try and save John Procter and the other imprisoned villagers only to find that they have already been hung.

 

 
 

Notes:

  • Doom's armor is equipped with time-circuitry which allows him to return to his own time. It is unclear if this is the same technology he used to travel through time at will (as shown in Fantastic Four #350) or if he is remotely controlling the time platform.

  • The time platform operates slightly different here. On previous and subsequent occasions, the time platform requires someone to operate it. Here the platform apparently waits for its user to step on it to return to is home time. The Spider-Man asks that the Vision "send it back" for him.

  • It is left unclear how the Dark Rider manages to use the Time Platform to send Cotton Mathers into the future.

  • Collected in Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 2 (pictured below)

 
 

Comments:

This is an excellent story, which despite Doom only playing a supporting role, is definitely worth the read. His strongest appearance is in #42. He's absent in #41 and held captive in a bubble for most of #43. For once it is nice to see that someone wants to steal Doom's power instead of vice versa. All in all, the characterization is good, the art is excellent. The idea that Doom had mastered everything he put his mind to, but after the accident he all but stopped his mystical studies is an interesting one. This idea isn't picked up again until Unthinkable. Bottom Line: * * * our of 5

 

 

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